Painted Crayfish Eggs Benedict with Lemon Myrtle Hollandaise and Nasturtium

Inspired by the Great Barrier Reef and the Cairns Region - through ingredient selection and the decorative plating. Eating the flavour piles is a real adventure for your mouth - pops of sweet earthy beetroot puree, salty crunchy tobiko, creamy, tangy lemon myrtle hollandaise, sour pops of finger lime pearls and that nasturtium and rocket bring a vibrant peppery moment… yum.

Crayfish has a delicate, sweet flavour, which is classically paired with a rich sauce - think Lobster Thermidor! Cooking Crayfish can be tricky - it has no fat, so easily toughens and becomes rubbery. With this recipe, the coconut water helps to gently tenderise the cray, whilst essentially sous-vide cooking at 55 degrees ensures it stays soft. To finish, pop it briefly on a bbq, in a pan or flame it with a blowtorch just before serving, for some caramelization and uburi-like flavour.

Ingredients

Poached Painted Crayfish

• 2 tails (300g each) of painted cray, buy frozen and defrost in cold running water or in the fridge overnight

• 100 ml coconut water

• 1 tbsp ginger, thinly sliced

• 1 tsp salt flakes

• 1 tsp organic coconut oil

Lemon Myrtle Hollandaise

• 60 g egg yolks (from 3 large eggs, room temperature)

• 10 g fresh lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste)

• 15 g warmwater

• 3 g salt flakes

• 0.1 g / tiny pinch of saffron powder - this is strong so goes a very long way!

• 0.1 g / pinch of white pepper

• 115 g unsalted butter, melted to 50-60 degrees (but not browned)

• 5 g lemon myrtle powder

Beetroot Puree

• 1 whole beetroot

• 20 g palm sugar

• 10 g balsamic vinegar

• 4 g salt flakes

• Pinch of ground white pepper

Pickled Red Onion

• 1 whole red onion

• 150 ml red wine vinegar

• 100 ml water

• 30 g sugar

• 1 whole bay leaf

• 1 pinch salt flakes

Perfectly Poached Eggs

• 8 whole large free-range eggs

• 1 cup white vinegar

• 1.5 L water

Garnish

• 4 tsp frozen tobiko (substitute with salmon roe or caviar)

• 2 tsp baby capers

• 4 - 5 whole nasturtium leaves of different sizes

• 1 tsp Ooray plum dust

• 1 whole Nori sheet, cut into strips

• 2 tsp of red finger lime pearls

• small selection of baby herb leaves and cress - I love mustard cress, dill and beetroot leaves

• small handful of fresh rocket

• 4 slices of ciabatta

• 2 tbsp of red finger lime pearls

• Pinch of black salt flakes

Method

Poached Painted Cray

Slice the tails in half, including the shell, with a large kitchen knife or cleaver, then peel the tail out of its shell.

Place the shells in a 150 °C oven for 10- 15 mins, or until red and crunchy - we will use this for plating the dish.

To a medium sized saucepan, add the coconut water, ginger, salt and the craytails. Adjust the coconut water to cover the cray tail if needed.

Place over a low heat, hold at 55 °C, for 25 mins ensuring not to boil. Alternatively, use half the coconut water, add all ingredients to a vacuum bag and sous-vide for 35 mins at 55 °C

Once gently poached, and just before serving, brush coconut oil over the cray tail, and place in a hot pan, or on a barbecue for 1 - 2 minutes. Alternatively blowtorch it, Japanese-aburi-style, for 20 secs or so. I like to do this whilst the poached eggs are cooking, so the dish comes together hot.

Lemon Myrtle Hollandaise

I love using a Thermomix for making Hollandaise, it makes it so easy! Follow one of their recipes and add the lemon myrtle and saffron powders. To make it the old-school way, use a thermometer and the double boiler method, a stainless steel mixing bowl sitting over a pot of gently boiling water.

Gently melt the butter until it is a liquid, but not separated or brown - about 35°C.

Whisk the egg yolks, lemon juice, water and saffron powder together in the stainless steel bowl and place over the boiling water to gently warm the egg yolk up to 65 °C - keep stirring so the egg doesn't cook.

Slowly add the warm melted butter, to emulsify the butter into the egg yolks.

Stir in lemon myrtle powder, salt and white pepper to taste.

Beetroot Puree

Wrap the whole beetroot in aluminium foil and bake for 25 mins, or until soft, in a 220 °C oven.

Allow to cool slightly, remove foil and wash under cold water for 30 seconds.

Place in a blender with palm sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt and white pepper and puree until smooth.

Make this ahead of time, it will last a week in the fridge, and is a great dip, or to smear onto a warm plate underneath your favourite steak.

Pickled Red Onion

Also make this ahead of time - it will keep in the fridge for weeks. So fast and easy, it's a staple in my fridge, I often add it to salads, or on the side of a cheese board.

Place the vinegar, water, sugar, bay leaf and salt into a saucepan, bring it to above 80°C and then remove.

Slice the onion into thin wedges, place into a stainless or plastic container and pour over the hot pickling liquid - it's ready to use as soon as it cools.

Perfectly Poached Eggs

Place the water and vinegar into a large saucepan and bring to a gentle-to-medium rolling boil. This movement helps the egg form that classic tail. If you can't taste the vinegar, add more.

Prepare a teatowel or similar cloth on a flat perforated tray or colander - draining the poached eggs after they are cooked is essential.

Carefully crack the eggs into the boiling water, try to place the egg into the water rather than drop them.

For a large egg, the poaching time is 3 minutes 20 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon onto your draining tea towel. Plate within 2 minutes whilst still hot, so it's an idea to toast the ciabatta and garnish the plates first, that will take 5 to 10 minutes.

Plating

Toast the ciabatta, place on plates.

Mix together the rocket with a small handful of the pickled onion along with a tablespoon of the pickling liquid, a pinch of salt and divide on the 4 plates. Time to get your artist on - imagine the coral on the Great Barrier Reef - this is the memory and feeling we are trying to invoke.

Gently place little mounds of lemon myrtle hollandaise and beetroot puree around the plate (refer to the picture).

Place the tobiko, baby capers, nasturtium leaves, baby herb leaves and cress, and finger lime pearls in tiny piles, on or next to the hollandaise flavour piles.

Place the poached eggs on the ciabatta, and sauce with a generous amount of the lemon myrtle hollandaise, pinch of Ooray plum dust, a few of the sliced nori sheets and baby mustard cress.

Place the cooked shell of the painted cray next to the poached eggs, the warm cray tail on top of the shell, and season with a pinch of black salt.

The cray is sweet, slightly salty and decadent. Perfectly poached eggs and hollandaise, rich and balanced with the acidity of the lemon myrtle, Ooray plum and the pickled onion through the rocket. Pops of salt, sweet and sour from Barrier Reef flavour piles - this is a super exciting dish to eat!